Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Comprehensive Cancer Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a prominent leader in the treatment of various cancers. The cancer center is listed among the nation’s 39 Comprehensive Cancer Institutes by the National Cancer Institute. The Surgical Oncology team at Wake Forest is renowned for its treatment of tumors that have invaded the peritoneal cavity. The peritoneal cavity is the space between the partial peritoneum (which surrounds the abdominal wall) and the visceral peritoneum (which surrounds internal organs). Mesothelioma can develop in the peritoneum or the abdomen lining. In other cases, the cancer can originate elsewhere and spread to the peritoneum. Wake Forest has unsurpassed experience in treating all types of aggressive cancers that have spread to the peritoneum.
Not all regions of the country offer specialized care for the treatment of relatively rare cancers such as peritoneal mesothelioma. Only around 500 cases of peritoneal mesothelioma are diagnosed each year in the United States. Under the leadership of Dr. Edward Levine, M.D., Wake Forest offers a two-step treatment plan for peritoneal cancers that attempts to remove all cancerous growth from the patient’s abdomen. The procedure involves cytoreductive surgery in conjunction with a perfusion technique known as Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC). Cytoreductive surgery is the partial elimination of the tumor in order to prepare the patient for the next stage of treatment. This type of surgery is performed on tumors that are not able to be fully removed.
In the second phase, HIPEC supplies heated chemotherapy directly to the abdominal area during the surgical procedure in order to kill any lingering cancerous cells. HIPEC is used only in conjunction with cytoreductive surgery. The use of heat aids in the efficacy of the drug and can help extend the lives of hundreds of mesothelioma patients. Intravenous chemotherapy treatments have been found to be ineffective for treating peritoneal malignancies. The HIPEC procedure offers enhanced outcomes for patients with peritoneal mesothelioma because cancer drugs are most successful when applied directly to malignant cells.
The HIPEC procedure is performed by only a small number of surgeons in the United States. At Wake Forest, over 1,100 of these procedures have been performed, making it a leader in providing this innovative treatment. In the past, peritoneal cancers were considered virtually untreatable, with median survival rates of 6 months even with traditional surgery. Today, cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC offer patients with peritoneal mesothelioma the best chance of extended survival. A study demonstrating improved survival rates for patients following cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC was published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons under the authorship of Dr. Edward Levine.
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